Mosquito
The Mosquito is a fighter plane used exclusively by the Terran Republic. It has the highest speeds of all of the ESFs in the game. Having a fleet of upgraded Mosquitos is important to maintain aerial superiority, and to protect infantry and ground vehicles. Weapons There are 2 weapon slots for the Mosquito. There is the Nose Cannon which can be equipped with 3 types of machine guns, and the Wing mounted weapon. Nose The Mosquito comes equipped with a M18 Needler by default. The Needler is an all-round machine gun with 75 rounds and a quick rate of fire. The M14 Banshee is an anti-infantry Gatling gun that fires small 14mm explosive rounds. The M18 Rotary is an Air-to-Air machine gun with 50 rounds and a fast rate of fire. The M18 Rotary is recommended as enemy aircraft is the biggest threat to the Mosquito. Wing By default, the Mosquito has External Afterburner Tanks as the Nose weapon. These allow for a greater duration of Afterburner use. Tomcat A2AM Pods are missiles that can lock-on to enemy aircraft, and are very useful for air-to-air combat. The Hellfire Rocket Pods can fire a volley 16 rockets and are effective for infantry and ground vehicles and can cause great damage to aircraft if they hit. Whether to the A2A missiles or the Rocket pods, depends on the pilot and the also on the situation, as both have their advantages and disadvantages. Upgrades The are many upgrades available to the Mosquito. There are three slots, called the Defense, Utility, and Performance. Utility For the Utility slot, there are four option. Decoy Flares, Fire Suppression, Scout Radar, and Ejection Seat. Decoy Flares allow for disrupting active lock-ons and preventing new ones for a few seconds, allowing the pilot to evade a few missile strikes, which can make a big difference in escaping alive. Fire Supression allows to repair the vehicle if it is on fire, extinguishing the fire and increasing the health of the plane, which can be helpful if the plane is on fire but very close to reaching safety, and thus is useful in giving the pilot a few extra seconds. Scout Radar spots enemies nearby which can be useful for killing infantry but has limited effectiveness for air-to-air combat. The Ejection Seat lets the pilot bail-out safely, however is not quite useful especially in enemy territory. For multi-purpose uses the best options are Decoy Flares and Fire Suppression, and again it is up to the pilot to decide which one is best for them. The above being said, it is advised that pilots take into account the sheer number of missles that will be thrown at a Mosquito when escorting a Galaxy. Galaxys often times attract hordes of fire, thus sparing the escorts the brunt of the barrage. However, flak and missles will still find their way towards 382nd Mossie pilots. Because of this, Decoy Flares are recommended. Defense For the Defense slot there are three options, Vehicle Stealth, Nanite Auto Repair System and Composite Armor. Vehicle Stealth is quite situational, and is generally not recommended.The Nanite Auto Repair can be quite useful, as a pilot does not need to leave their aircraft to get repairs, and can evade if an enemy apporaches. It is also useful if there is a long stale-mate in a dog-fight as the plane could regain full health during the fight. Composite Armor provides some resistance to flak and small arms fire, and is particularly useful when flying in areas with many ground enemies. For air-to-air combat, composite armor is not as useful as aircraft don't use flak or small arms, and thus Nanite Auto Repair is a better option. However if there are many ground enemies, Composite Armor will be highly effective as most of the damage will be from flak and small arms. Deciding between Nanite Auto Repair or Composite Armor is a tough decision, and it is up to the pilot to chose which one to use. Performance Performance is a slot that is debate upon for the Mosquito. There are three options, Dogfighting, Hover Stability, and Racer High Speed. Dogfighting, as the name implies, is quite useful for air-to-air combat, providing more agility in general. Hover Stability is helpful when attacking infantry, as more stabilty will result in easier aiming. Racer High Speed, can be used for hit-and-run tactics, as the extra speed would be helpful. For air-to-air, dogfighting is the obvious choice, but for all other uses the selection depends on the pilot's preference. Recommended Loadouts